Standard Life chief executive David Nish today described its auto-enrolment business as “a central plank” in the future development of the customer base, but refused to be drawn on further departures at new acquisition Ignis.

Nish was speaking after announcing the Edinburgh-based company's first-half operating profit. The group revealed it had won 1,018 new corporate schemes through its auto-enrolment services “Good to Go” and “Good to Go Express”. Its UK business is now responsible for 1.5 million workplace customers.

The new funds won by auto-enrolment will be managed by Standard Life Investments, which saw assets under management rise by 5% from £102.4 billion at the end of 2013, to £108 billion at the end of June 2014.

Nish also confirmed the integration of Ignis had started well and confirmed “arrangements [were] in place” to keep senior Ignis staff in place.

While Nish name-checked Ignis’ chief investment officer Chris Fellingham as “very much key to the future development of the business”, he refused to be drawn on specific details for individual members of staff.

Ignis chief executive Chris Samuel left in late June. Chief investment officer Michiel Timmerman, and head of credit Chris Bowie also left last month.

Nish said: “There is a whole mixture of people who are very much part of the integration going ahead [and] there will be an integration of activities. We have been very pleased how Ignis turned up on 1 July in terms of how it is performing and its people.”

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When asked how auto-enrolment compared to other priorities for the group, Nish said it was “in bucket one”, as he detailed the group’s broad distribution network which now includes a strategic tie-up with Barclays Bank, IFA groups and a direct sales force.

He said: “It gives us a good opportunity to broaden out our customer group. There is an ability for an individual customer with your pension to become a retail customer with an ISA. We look at this as a central plank of our UK strategies.”

Standard Life’s 'Good to Go Express' service allows small businesses to establish a new pension scheme, purportedly in as little as six minutes – useful for small businesses that are due to enter auto enrolment for the first time in 2015.

Firms with 30 to 49 staff will be liable to provide a pension under the government’s auto-enrolment plan from 1 August 2015.

Elsewhere in the half year results, the group declared a 4% rise in assets under administration from £244.2 billion at the end of the full year 2013, to £254.1 billion at the end of June 2014.

Assets under administration is a combination of the assets under management from the Standard Life Investments business and the pension scheme assets it administers, but does not manage.

The group also warned about the impact of Scottish independence, stating that questions raised in its 2013 annual report around threats to the currency and financial regulation had not been addressed.